Stanford's Coach Shaw has Big Game against Cal Bears in sights

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Moving on: Stanford coach David Shaw is putting last week’s controversial loss behind him to focus on Saturday’s Big Game.

With the 30th anniversary of the famous lateral play surrounding this week’s Stanford-Cal rivalry, Cardinal coach David Shaw was asked for his opinion about the disputed call given the benefit of replay all these years later.

Shaw responded: “You’re asking me about replay?”

Indeed, this is not the week.

Shaw said Monday he believes running back Stepfan Taylor scored the tying touchdown on fourth down in No. 22 Stanford’s 20-13 overtime loss at fifth-ranked Notre Dame, though he again declined to criticize officials who upheld the decision after a video review. Instead, Shaw sent his concerns about the call — and others — to the Pac-12 Conference offices as part of a procedure most coaches follow each week.

Pac-12 officials called the game on the field while the video review was done by a Big East crew.

“It’s hard to say because I’m going to be the most biased guy you’ll find,” Shaw said. “It’s impossible for me to look at it completely objectively. I applaud my guy’s effort to keep fighting. I think it’s a tough call when it goes upstairs to the booth. It’s out of our hands. We have to deal with what the decision is.”

No time for Stanford to sulk now.

The 115th edition of the Big Game rivalry resumes Saturday at the new Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. And while Cal (3-4, 2-2) will be the Cardinal’s first opponent with a losing record this year, the Stanford Axe is as coveted as ever.

Several Stanford players called the Notre Dame loss one of the toughest of their careers. They also said facing the Golden Bears — a matchup usually slated for the final conference game of the year — will help them get over any Notre Dame hangover.

“Once we start to focus on Cal with today’s meetings, hopefully everyone will forget.”

NOTES: WR Ty Montgomery is expected to miss his second straight game because of a lower leg injury that occurred two weeks ago in a win against Arizona, Shaw said. Montgomery was seen riding a bicycle on campus. ... Shaw also said senior linebacker Shayne Skov, who limped off the field at Notre Dame with an undisclosed injury, had no lingering health issues and will start against Cal.